As is generally the case with support cushions and, in particular, with support cushions comprised of flexible foam or other body-conforming materials, the effectiveness of the support cushion in providing support to the body of a user is partly a function of how well the flexible foam responds to the contour of the particular user resting on the cushion. In this regard, support cushions made from temperature-sensitive visco-elastic foam are often particularly desirable as such support cushions are able to change shape based, at least in part upon the temperature of the supported body part. That conformance of the cushion to the body of a user, however, often causes more of the user's body to be in contact with the body support cushion, and thus, less of the body of the user is exposed to the ambient air around the cushion. The reduction in the amount of the body of the user exposed to ambient air, in turn, causes many users to find support cushions comprised of visco-elastic foam to “sleep hot” and, occasionally, such users will choose other types of support cushions, notwithstanding the supportive benefits associated with visco-elastic foam and similar types of body-conforming materials.
In an effort to remedy users' concerns of “sleeping hot” as a result of the body-conforming qualities of their support cushions, many support cushion manufacturers have incorporated so-called “cooling” technologies into their products. For example, many body-conforming support cushions now incorporate latent heat storage units, such as phase change materials or cooling gel inserts, that absorb heat and provide a cooling effect when in contact with the body of a user. To date, however, support cushions including those latent heat storage units have typically only incorporated the latent heat storage units into a single side of the support cushion, and, consequently, the number of orientations in which the support cushions can provide a cooling effect to the user has been limited.